Debra Utacia Krol is an Indigenous affairs reporter at the Arizona Republic, where she covers the intersection of climate, culture and commerce in Southwestern Native communities. She and Cheryl Evans are the winners of the 2021 NPF Feddie Reporting Award. 

Krol, a citizen of the Xolon Salinan Tribe from the Central California coast, has more than two decades of expertise in reporting on Native issues for publications large and small, with an emphasis on environmental and science issues. Krol has also been a contributor to two books on Native Californian traditions.

Krol has been recognized for her work with many awards. Most recently, Krol’s work in the series “Tribes and Fire” received an award for outstanding explanatory reporting from the Society of Environmental Journalists and the Native American Journalists Association, and her story on the rising number of heat-related deaths in the Phoenix area won the Nina Mason Pulliam Environmental Journalism Award at the Arizona Press Club awards.

Krol gave the acceptance speech accepting the Feddie Award at the May 4, 2022 NPF awards dinner.